3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel , saying , 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households , a lamb for each household . 4 'Now if the household is too small for a lamb , then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat , you are to divide the lamb . 5 'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old ; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats . 6 'You shall keep e it until the fourteenth e day of the same month , then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight . 7 ' Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 'They shall eat the flesh that same night , roasted with fire , and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs . 9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water , but rather e roasted with fire , both its head and its legs along with its entrails . 10 ' And you shall not leave any of it over until morning , but whatever is left of it until morning , you shall burn with fire . 11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner : with your loins girded , your sandals on your feet , and your staff in your hand ; and you shall eat it in haste -it is the Lord'S Passover . 12 'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night , and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt , both man and beast ; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments - I am the Lord . 13 ' The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where e you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt . 14 'Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord ; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance . 15 ' Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread , but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses ; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day , that person shall be cut off from Israel . 16 ' On the first day you shall have a holy assembly , and another holy assembly on the seventh day ; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person , that alone may be prepared by you. 17 'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread , for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt ; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance . 18 ' In the first month, on the fourteenth e day of the month at evening , you shall eat unleavened bread , until the twenty-first e day of the month at evening . 19 ' Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses ; for whoever eats what is leavened , that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel , whether he is an alien or a native of the land . 20 'You shall not eat anything leavened ; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread .' "
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families , and slay the Passover lamb. 22 " You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin , and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts ; and none e of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning . 23 "For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts , the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 24 "And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever e . 25 "When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised , you shall observe this rite . 26 " And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?' 27 you shall say , 'It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians , but spared our homes .' " And the people bowed low and worshiped . 28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron , so they did .
29 Now it came about at midnight e that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt , from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon , and all the firstborn of cattle . 30 Pharaoh arose in the night , he and all his servants and all the Egyptians , and there was a great cry in Egypt , for there was no home where e there was not someone dead .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Exodus 12:3-30
Commentary on Exodus 12:1-20
(Read Exodus 12:1-20)
The Lord makes all things new to those whom he delivers from the bondage of Satan, and takes to himself to be his people. The time when he does this is to them the beginning of a new life. God appointed that, on the night wherein they were to go out of Egypt, each family should kill a lamb, or that two or three families, if small, should kill one lamb. This lamb was to be eaten in the manner here directed, and the blood to be sprinkled on the door-posts, to mark the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians. The angel of the Lord, when destroying the first-born of the Egyptians, would pass over the houses marked by the blood of the lamb: hence the name of this holy feast or ordinance. The passover was to be kept every year, both as a remembrance of Israel's preservation and deliverance out of Egypt, and as a remarkable type of Christ. Their safety and deliverance were not a reward of their own righteousness, but the gift of mercy. Of this they were reminded, and by this ordinance they were taught, that all blessings came to them through the shedding and sprinkling of blood. Observe, 1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7,8. Having received Christ Jesus the Lord, we must continually delight ourselves in Christ Jesus. No manner of work must be done, that is, no care admitted and indulged, which does not agree with, or would lessen this holy joy. The Jews were very strict as to the passover, so that no leaven should be found in their houses. It must be a feast kept in charity, without the leaven of malice; and in sincerity, without the leaven of hypocrisy. It was by an ordinance for ever; so long as we live we must continue feeding upon Christ, rejoicing in him always, with thankful mention of the great things he has done for us.
Commentary on Exodus 12:21-28
(Read Exodus 12:21-28)
That night, when the first-born were to be destroyed, no Israelite must stir out of doors till called to march out of Egypt. Their safety was owing to the blood of sprinkling. If they put themselves from under the protection of that, it was at their peril. They must stay within, to wait for the salvation of the Lord; it is good to do so. In after-times they should carefully teach their children the meaning of this service. It is good for children to ask about the things of God; they that ask for the way will find it. The keeping of this solemnity every year was, 1. To look backward, that they might remember what great things God had done for them and their fathers. Old mercies, to ourselves, or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, that God may be praised, and our faith in him encouraged. 2. It was designed to look forward, as an earnest of the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time. Christ our passover was sacrificed for us; his death was our life.
Commentary on Exodus 12:29-36
(Read Exodus 12:29-36)
The Egyptians had been for three days and nights kept in anxiety and horror by the darkness; now their rest is broken by a far more terrible calamity. The plague struck their first-born, the joy and hope of their families. They had slain the Hebrews' children, now God slew theirs. It reached from the throne to the dungeon: prince and peasant stand upon the same level before God's judgments. The destroying angel entered every dwelling unmarked with blood, as the messenger of woe. He did his dreadful errand, leaving not a house in which there was not one dead. Imagine then the cry that rang through the land of Egypt, the long, loud shriek of agony that burst from every dwelling. It will be thus in that dreadful hour when the Son of man shall visit sinners with the last judgment. God's sons, his first-born, were now released. Men had better come to God's terms at first, for he will never come to theirs. Now Pharaoh's pride is abased, and he yields. God's word will stand; we get nothing by disputing, or delaying to submit. In this terror the Egyptians would purchase the favour and the speedy departure of Israel. Thus the Lord took care that their hard-earned wages should be paid, and the people provided for their journey.